The Effects of Computers and Acquired Skills on Earnings, Employment and College Enrollment: Evidence from a Field Experiment and California UI Earnings Records

We thank the Community Technology Foundation of California (ZeroDivide), UCACCORD, and Computers for Classrooms, Inc. for funding. We thank seminar participants at Stanford University, University of Texas, Austin, Arizona State University, Columbia University, the Public Policy Institute of California and UCSC CLRC Workshop, and Peter Bergman, Leigh Linden and Karen Mossberger for comments and suggestions. We thank Mike Rasmussen, Karen Micalizio, Katalin Miko, Bev McManus, Linda Cobbler, Zeke Rogers and others at Butte College for helping with administering the program and providing administrative data, and Samantha Grunberg, Miranda Schirmer, Luba Petersen, Caitlin White, Anita McSwane-Williams, Matt Jennings, and Emilie Juncker for research assistance. We thank Patrick Perry and the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges for authorizing and providing access to administrative and earnings data for this study. Finally, we offer special thanks to Pat Furr for providing computers for the study and for her extensive help in administering the giveaway program. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.